Hello Everyone

Hey guys and gals my name is Matt and I recently purchased my first bearded dragon. I name it viserion, not sure the sex yet. I got it sunday last week from petco which I know is a bad place, for saltwater this is a fact, I didnt know about reptiles but should have assumed so. Okay so the run down, I have a 20l i cleaned and used that I already owned, got the sand mat from zoo med, repti-calcium from zoo med, twin light unit with duel bulb kit that has a 75w basking lamp and compact 10.0 uvb coil as you all call them bulb. I got a half log for a hide out and a branch structure for basking, water dish that is useless and a meal worm dish i put the veggies in. Light timer that runs 7am-9pm at the moment. Inside thermometer and humidity gauge, I also have a temp gun I brought home from work. Basking area runs 102-108 and the cage goes about 88-76 from left to right, my dragon hasnt really ate since i brought it home, it has used the bathroom a few times. Stool looks good, I know I need a different UVB light as of today, also I ditched the sand mat cause I washed it today and allot of sub came off so now I have white paper towels in the bottom. Also have a mini heat pad under the tank where the half log is. I sprinkle the calc on the leafy greens and crickets, also got dubia medium sized to try. Not really any success yet, so far about 3 meal worms a piece of kale and one dubia has been consumed. Yesterday I sprinkled water on its face to let it drink and will be giving a bath tomorrow as im off work. Will also try to exchange lights for better uvb. Little fellah does more sleeping and eyes closed than anything even though he is attentive to me when I check on him and put him in the feeding bin. Today I gently rubbed the top of his head as i spoke to em and he did this little like head vibrate shake thing so I stopped. I am worried that I will fail as a first time BD owner, any help advice, tips would be greatly appreciated and I look forward to being a part of this community.

Hi Matt, can you post a few pics of your new little buddy as well as his set up ? There's usually something that needs to be tweeked so someone here will be able to offer advice if there adjustments that are needed. Plus it's always nice to see someone''s new dragon !

Here's how to post pics :

https://www.beardeddragon.org/useruploads/ Then use the XIMG to upload them

Awesome, thanks for the reply. Here are some pictures plus one I took today. He did eat 3 medium dubia roaches today thankfully. But I have seen him do the head shake vibrate thing some more, will be ordering phoenix worms on Monday also, got rid of the crickets today.

Aw, cute little bugger. Good to hear that he ate 3 roaches....just be sure they are smaller than the space between his eyes.
I can tell by the pics that he's not real well....no telling what type of care he had before you got him. He may be a bit dehydrated so offer water dripped on his snout . Drip, stop, repeat....it may take a good 30 seconds or more but they will usually drink that way. Or you can set him in his water dish and dribble water on the snout while he's in there. They usually don't drink from standing water but can do so with the drip method.

Another probable big problem is calcium deficincy...the vibrations of his head can be a sign of it [ which leads to metabolic bone disease ] He may not have had regular calcium in his diet, plus has not been exposed to a good uvb bulb. You will need a new long tube flourescent bulb, very important to get ASAP. The 2 best ones are the Reptisun 10.0 t5 or the Arcadia 12% . Until you can get these bulbs take him out in the sun every day [ not in a glass tank, but you can use a medium or large clear plastic tote when it's less than 85 degrees outside ] Always provide part shade by placing the tote near a tree or even put a large fake plant in front of it or something else to provide partial shade.

See if he'll drink a bit, get some calcium in him for sure and some sun + better uvb bulbs and he might improve very quickly.

Awesome good to hear, I do ensure his food fits between his eyes. Calcium dust it all and I have not been soaking him but have been spraying his face down for water. I did go outside with him today for about 5 minutes before my wife started yelling for me. I will go and get the bulb and the fixture tomorrow if how depot has the ballast which is cheaper. OR even order it all, I did see petco only has 5.0 bulbs over their dragons and how well they ate or if the bugs were dusted is unlikely. I will take him out more often, I will be switching to day shift here soon and will have more time to spend with him, I hope he doesn't need to go in for a calcium shot.

Sounds good. Just see how he does, give it a little time before you go to a vet, that is very stressful for them. Update as often as you like....everyone here likes to see new beardies + how they're doing.